Frozen Flames
by aervien
Summary: [SesshoumaruMidoriko] Warmth can be found in the most unlikely places... a collection of drabbles exploring the relationship between a youkai lord and the creator of the Shikon no Tama.
1. Flame 1: Remember the Legend

**(A/N)** All these stories were written for the LiveJournal Community 30Shards, for the pairing of Sesshoumaru and Midoriko. Each 'shard' is not related to the others, nor is this a long story.

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**_#1 - Legend_**

**Title: **Remember the Legend  
**Pairing: **Sesshoumaru/Midoriko  
**Shard:** 1  
**Rating: **PG  
**Squicks: **Nothing, really. This one just has Sesshoumaru sorta... thinking.  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own Inuyasha.  
**Summary:** Sesshoumaru didn't like legends.

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How, Sesshoumaru wondered, could a teenage girl with barely controlled priestess powers become a legend?

Well, how did all legends become legends?

First, there was a person. Second, the person did something notable. Third, the person died or vanished. Fourth, the people told the person's story. Fifth, the story was intensified with each retelling. Sixth, the story becomes a legend.

Sesshoumaru didn't want her to be a legend. If that happened, he would remember the legend, not her. Sesshoumaru didn't want to remember the legend. Sesshoumaru wanted to remember her.

Sesshoumaru wanted to remember the grin when she teased him. Sesshoumaru wanted to remember the laughter when she joked with him. Sesshoumaru wanted to remember the smile when she'd been with him. Sesshoumaru wanted to remember the eyes when she looked at him. Sesshoumaru wanted to remember the glare when she yelled at him. Sesshoumaru wanted to remember the voice when she spoke to him. Sesshoumaru wanted to remember the skin when she touched him. Sesshoumaru wanted to remember the lips when she kissed him.

But no. Midoriko was to be remembered as a legend and eventually, he knew he would remember only the legend too, and not the teenage girl with the grin and the laughter and the smile and the eyes and the glare and the voice and the lips.

So when Inuyasha sneered at him and asked if a desire to be known as a legend was the reason he was after Tetsusaiga, Sesshoumaru glared and just walked away. (After beating the crap out of Inuyasha of course, the younger wondering for weeks afterwards just what he was so pissed about.) He stayed in a bad mood for days, and safe to say, Jaken nursed an aching head for weeks after.

Sesshoumaru didn't like legends.


	2. Flame 2: A Waste of Time

_**#2 - Juggling**_

**Title: **A Waste of Time  
**Shard:** 2  
**Pairing: **Sesshoumaru/Midoriko  
**Rating: **PG  
**Squicks: **Sesshy equals OOC-ness, hey, cut me some slack, he's supposed to be really young here XP  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own Inuyasha.  
**Summary: **"It is _not_ a waste of time!"

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"What are you so happy about?" Sesshoumaru asked, exasperated as Midoriko babbled on and on about some random purification power technique thingy he had absolutely no interest in. She'd lost him a little while back and at the moment, he was completely baffled as she chattered randomly about ways to use it.

At his comment, she stopped and gave him an exasperated look. "Were you even listening?"

"Yes," he said defensively. A few moments passed as she just gave him a flat look. After a few seconds, he gave in and sulkily admitted, "No."

"Didn't think so," Midoriko sighed. "Here, I'll explain it again and this time-"

"Will it be of any use to me?" he interrupted with an expectant look on his face.

She struggled with the answer, "Well, maybe, I don't know for -"

"Then I'm not interested." He turned and made as if to walk away.

"Wait! Sesshoumaru!"

"What?" he turned again, giving her a frustrated glare.

She gave him a pleading look, "Please stay! This... this is the first time I've tried something like this and.. I... I... I don't want to do it alone!" The last part was nearly shouted. Midoriko bit her lip and looked away, figuring the proud youkai would be disgusted at the blatant show of fear she'd shown.

Instead, she heard a sigh and the rustle of cloth, as Sesshoumaru leaned himself against a tree trunk. She look at him in surprise and he returned it with a flat look of his own that said 'hurry up so I can get out of here'. It wasn't the best expression, but Midoriko nearly shrieked with glee and hugged him tightly before rushing back to the center and starting to build her energy for her first try, leaving Sesshoumaru stunned and with faint pink cheeks.

Excited, Midoriko didn't see her companion's embarrassment and therefore could not laugh at it. Instead, she concentrated her energy on forming the little balls of purification power she'd seen a wandering priestess do. Soon, she opened her eyes, and true enough, a little light green ball of spiritual energy was floating before her. Midoriko beamed at it.

"_That_ is what I was wasting my time for?" a disbelieving voice said. Midoriko suddenly remember her audience and glared at him.

"It is _not_ a waste of time!" she replied hotly.

Sesshoumaru raised one delicate brow, as if daring her to push that statement. Midoriko had an idea and smirking at him, suddenly threw the energy ball. Sesshoumaru's eyes widened and he jumped out of the way just in time. The ball singed the tree trunk and the clearing was instantly quiet.

Sesshoumaru looked at her. Midoriko's eyes widened in shock and she shrieked as she ran. One red ball after another chased after her, and yet, she couldn't help but laugh.


	3. Flame 3: Believe

_**#11 - Magic**_

**Title: **Believe  
**Shard: **3  
**Theme: **11 - Magic  
**Pairing: **Sesshoumaru/Midoriko  
**Rating: **G  
**Squicks: **Nope.  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own Inuyasha.  
**Summary:** "Sesshoumaru, do you believe in magic?"

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"Hey, Sesshoumaru, do you believe in magic?"

The youkai blinked at the person that had shot him the question. The girl (for she was not yet a woman) was staring at the pastel sea with wisps of foam that floated above them. For a little while, they shared a silence that stretched for some time as he thought out all the possible meanings the question could have.

"No. I don't believe in magic."

"Why not?" She turned her head to look at him curiously, apparently deeming his answer more interesting than the crazy imaginings she had used the clouds for.

Sesshoumaru shrugged and shifted to a more comfortable position on the grass he was sitting on. Once again, silence permeated the small hill they were on as his ind ran through all the possible outcomes each answer could have and weighing the risks of saying it at her face. Finally, he decided.

"Because I don't believe in something just randomly appearing on your lap. Because I don't believe in wands that hold within them mystical power. Because I don't believe in anything other than myself and my own fighting skill."

"But what about love?" she pressed. "What about the sunrise and the sunset? What about the moonlight? What about the blueness of the sky? The metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly? Do you believe in them?"

"Love can turn into hate in a blink of the eye. The sunrise and sunset are different the farther east or west you travel. The moon hides its face every rotation. The sky turns red and orange at the end of the day. The caterpillar can die within the chrysalis. So, no. I do not believe in such things."

She was silent for sometime. When Midoriko finally spoke, it was with such open honesty, he could not help but tell her the truth.

"Sesshoumaru... do you believe in me?"


	4. Flame 4: Devil Inside

**(Disclaimer)** I do not own Inuyasha. Characters and setting copyrighted to Rumiko Takahashi. All rights reserved, etc, etc. The plot and any character unrecognizable from the manga or anime are mine as well. Please do not use anything that falls underneath those categories without my permission.

**(Written)**_ Start:_ August 21, 2006 EST _End_: August 23, 2006 9:03 PM EST

**(Published) **August 25, 2006 11:56 AM EST

**(Word Count)** 298

**(Author's Note)** This is a songfic for the LJ community **10symphonies**. The pairing is, obviously, **Sesshoumaru x Midoriko**. A note: as Midoriko did live a long, long time ago, this would've happened when Sesshoumaru was relatively young in youkai years, I think, so I'm going to take some license with his character. Inspired by the song **Devil Inside by Utada Hikaru**, hence, the title of this drabbled.

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**Devil Inside  
**_Taiyoukai Lady_

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She liked to call him a devil, fondly grinning at memories of his snarling visage tearing apart some common oni with those wonderfully sharp claws of his. He never stopped her, amused by the name.

"If I'm the devil, wouldn't this be hell?" he asked once.

A shrug was the reply, "I'd rather be in hell with you than in Heaven with all those other wimps."

He accepted this reasoning, too young to understand the underlying emotion in those words, and did not bring it up again.

One day, months after the first time she called him a devil, he stopped by the small hut she called home only to find her gone, the embers of the fire still glowing with a smothered light. Trusting that she would be back before long, he settled himself down to wait. If she had left without him, it was safe to guess that the oni wasn't very strong, or at least, not strong enough to be a serious treat to her victory. She was foolish, headstrong, too stubborn for her own good, but not stupid. No, she wasn't stupid.

He thought.

He was seriously considering reversing that opinion when night fell and she still hadn't returned. The fire crackled with the logs he'd thrown in, eagerly digesting the dry wood.

Just as he was about to leave, the hanging mat that acted as a door was pushed aside, and a black-haired head poked in warily, blinking at him in surprise before the rest of her body followed.

"Hey," she said, smiling at him.

Staring at the image of Midoriko drenched in blood, the head of an oni clutched in her hand, the guts still hanging of her sword, Sesshoumaru sighed and shook his head.

"And you call me a devil."


End file.
